Brothers
by kmg365
Summary: Chester B, Johnny, a new use for a 4 in 1 rescue tool and mustache burns.


**The following is a bit of whumpage, friendship, and a different use for the 4 in 1 rescue hammer firefighters carry. All mistakes are mine and seeing as proper punctuation is hard for me there may be a fair bit of those flubs in there but I don't think it makes it unreadable. Also as an RN we abbreviate everything and I tried to make sure that I didn't do that, well at least where it would've been weird, but there are some and I hope it's not confusing.**

His vision dimmed as the man continued the pressure on his neck. "Fire boy, you should'a known better than to chase me." Flecks of spittle hit the silently gasping man on the face as he tried desperately to pry the iron grip on his neck. As he scratched at the hand on his throat he tried to kick out but his oxygen reserves clicked to zero and the tunneling of his vision sped up exponentially, until all he could see was the cold gray eyes staring into his and those were fading fast.

"HEY!" and a loud clunk was the only thing that registered before the grip on this throat released and his knees buckled. "JOHNNY!," He felt strong arms wrap around his waist and lower him to the ground. With a giant whoop! the prone man took a breath and immediately began to cough and sputter. As he began to inhale the desperately needed oxygen he heard his crew mate on the handie talkie. "HT 51 to Captain 51." He felt a hand on his shoulder as he continued to gasp. "HT 51 to Captain 51," Johnny watched as his savior keyed the HT for a third time. "DAMMIT! IS ANYONE LISTENING!" He would've smiled at the massive break in protocol but he was busy looking at his hands making sure that they were still there. _All ten fingers present_ , he wiggled them experimentally, _all moving;_ _then why can't I feel them_? Random thoughts like oxygen depletion and peripheral paraesthesia flew through his head.

"Captain 51 to HT 51. Chet you better have a good reason for such language," Johnny watched the world dim again as his once easy breaths started to wheeze. Chet's alarmed eyes swam into his field of vision and he could see him speaking but no sound. In fact he couldn't hear anything now except for his heart beat and his wheezing. He tried to form words but his abused throat wouldn't allow it, the last thing the young man saw was his mustached friend yelling as the darkness swallowed him whole.

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

Awareness came to him gently, followed by the sound of Roy's voice, "Rampart we have two victims; victim one is male approximately 30 years old has an apparent head injury caused by the hammer end of our rescue tool," He kept his eyes closed, taking stock of his body as his partner's voice dropped to the background noise, flexing his hands again he was happily surprised to feel the wet grass beneath them. He was not, however, surprised to feel the dry, cool, oxygen hitting his face rhythmically as someone hit the button on the resuscitator mask which each of his shallow breaths. His throat was sore, his tongue felt thick and his head was pounding in time with his heartbeat. _Man he really did a number on me._

"Roy, I only hit him once," There was some shuffling and the quit murmur of his captain's voice beside him, "I should've hit him more, he was going to kill Johnny." The lineman said just loud enough for the small group to hear.

"Victim two is a Code I and is suffering from injuries after being strangled, he is 28 years old and upon original assessment patient was in respiratory failure and receiving AR via mouth to mouth." He could hear how tense his partner was. "Patient was cyanotic, diaphoretic and has bruising about the throat and jaw. He is now receiving O2 via resuscitator and vitals are improving."

"Fifty-one let's go ahead with victim two," Johnny felt his partner's trained hands inspecting him for further injury and then the feel of the BP cuff being pumped up. After his pressure had been taken he felt Roy's hand drop to his wrist which he grabbed with his hand and squeezed. The hand of the older man jerked in surprise and then relaxed, slowly John opened his eyes and, while fuzzy, he would never mistake his partner's face. John felt his lips curl up slightly at the smile the other man was giving him.

"Hey junior, bout time you joined the party," The blue eyes that looked down at him were red rimmed and old. _Did he always have those wrinkles?_ "Johnny don't try to talk or fight Mike here but give a slight nod if you can understand me." He wasn't aware that such a simple movement could cause such a look a relief on someone. The young man could listened to his partner as he spoke to the doctor. "Patient two has regained consciousness and is responding to directed questions, Rampart." The tenseness had left the older's man voice some as he continued. "As stated earlier upon original assessment patient was cyanotic, diaphoretic and receiving AR via mouth to mouth. Patients BP at that time was 45/20, heart rate was 155 and patient was in respiratory failure." _Oh that's not good_. "Patient's current BP is 80/55 and heart rate is 120, respiratory rate is six with assistance via resuscitator. Patient remains cyanotic and continues to wheeze but there is good chest rise and fall with assisted breaths."

"Ten-four, fifty one," The disembodied voice of Dr. Brackett came across the biophone speaker, "Start an IV D5W at one hundred drips and insert endotracheal tube." Johnny tensed at those instructions and started to shake his head 'no' violently. The engineer that was applying life saving oxygen lost the seal on the resuscitator.

"Roy, he is bucking around something fierce," The young man made an attempt to sit up only to feel his world tilt and darken, once again. "He's getting bluer, Roy!" He could hear packages being ripped open and felt as Mike tried to reapply the mask while he continued to shake his head. "Johnny, don't do this to us _again_." The near panic in the normally stoic man's voice made the cyanotic victim still and allowed for the oxygen to be reapplied.

"Mike keep that on him while I get this IV started," He flinched slightly as the needle pierced his skin and the drip was adjusted. The constant background noise that was his captain's voice speaking to an unseen entity stopped and in his peripheral vision he spotted boots he just knew belonged to his superior.

"Johnathon Gage," He looked up into his concerned captain's eyes, "Your throat has been abused and is now swelling, it's a miracle that you are even getting air. You will allow Roy to treat you because I'll be damned if I have to explain to Emily I let you die when there was something I could do." John logically knew why it had to be done, it was only a matter of time until his throat closed completely, but he didn't have to like it.

"Brackett authorized a little something," Before his partner had the sentence out completely a warmth that originated somewhere in his chest began to radiated toward his fingers and toes. His eyes began to drift shut from the effects of the drug and the last thing he saw was Roy's worry etched face and a tube in his hand.

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

"I want a CBC, Chem-12, ABG." The baritone voice barked above him. "Dix, insert a catheter, initiate a second IV, admin twelve milligrams of dexamethasone, get respiratory down here for a racemic epi treatment. I want a C-Spine and skull series." Johnny felt heavy like he was being pulled down by lead weights into warm water, it was soothing to the young man and continued till the warmth covered him completely and the world went wonderfully dark.

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

"When is he going to wake, Roy? You said that his throat was no longer swelling and they are going to remove the tube as soon as he wakes." Johnny knew this voice but he couldn't place the name. _Why can't I think of his name_? He felt the lead weights pull on him again and he began to slip back into the warm dark place.

"I don't know, Chet, I just don't know." _Chet! and Roy!_ The warmth that surrounded him was no longer as welcoming as he listened to his friends.

"He's been out for five days, I heard Brackett say that they may have to cut a hole in his throat if he doesn't wake up soon." So much worry and fear filled those words. "You know when that bastard was choking him I saw red, I didn't even know I hit the guy until I heard Johnny gasp. I thought Johnny was de-" There was a brief pause and a slow shuddering sigh. "I would've kept hitting that guy, I know I would've but Johnny needed my help." His voice trailed off at the end of the sentence.

"You saved his life." Roy's voice was strained and tired. "Twice. If you didn't stay with him..." Johnny couldn't hear anything but he assumed there was an exchanged of meaningful looks. The sound of a door opening and footfalls announced the arrival of a new person. "Hiya cap."

"Chet, Roy." The was some shuffling and the scrape of a chair. "Any change yet?"

"No." Sounded from the two other occupant's mouths. The three men fell into a silence that only could be described as resigned. The man in the bed felt the weights renew their strength to pull him under but he fought against them this time and he fought hard.

"John?!" The hopeful tone in his superior's voice along with the sound of people standing up abruptly gave him the last little bit he needed to win his battle. His eyes opened to a very bright light and three blurs hovering over him, one of the blurs reached over and the blinding light disappeared. The door slammed opening and quick foot steps sounded in the room. The three hovering blurs were joined by two more.

"Johnny, can you hear me?"

"John, squeeze my hand if you can understand me."

"Gage, can you nod?"

The bombardment of questions made his head swim and he kept darting his eyes around the room trying to focus on any of the fuzzy shapes in front of him. The questions kept coming in rapid fire until a very loud whistle shut everyone up. "Let me try." The unmistakable click clack of heels approached his bed. He felt a cool slender hand replace the callus one and a yellowish blur replaced the rest of the others. "Heya hose jockey, bout time you wake up and join us." The smokey voice that belonged to this shape brought back deja vu. _I know her, she's done this before_. "You gave us quite the run for our money." _Dix._ With his brain finally catching gear the form began to solidify as she stood over him. "But you've slept long enough now." He slowly grasped back at the woman's hand and attempted a smile around the tube in his throat. He was rewarded with a large smile from the off duty nurse and she finally came into full focus. "There you are gorgeous."

"Can I?" The question was almost meek in nature. He nodded slightly and Dix was joined by his partner. "Can you understand us, Johnny?" The man in the bed both squeezed the nurse's hand and nodded his head again.

"Well alright!" The happy exclamation came from somewhere near the foot of his bed. As best he could he signaled with his unoccupied hand for the owner of the voice to come around to the other side of him. "How are you pigeon of mine?" Johnny smiled again and blinked slowly as exhaustion started to wash over him.

"Let's remove that tube before you fall back asleep." The occupants of the room shuffled out except for the two doctors and his favorite nurse. "On the count of three I want you to cough really hard."

"One...,"

" Two..." John took a deep breath.

"And three!" He coughed as hard as he could as the tube was quickly and smoothly removed. The coughing fit that ensued made him start to gag and a dish was placed under his chin to catch any vomit that may occur. While he was coughing and struggling to not puke one of the doctor's administered a muscle relaxer into his IV. A familiar warmth washed over him as he gave into the drug's effects.

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

"So why did you chase the suspect?" A few days after waking up John was now in a regular room, sitting up and being questioned by Vince. He cleared his throat and took a sip of the warm tea to soothe his sore throat.

"I thought he was going to go to a back entrance of the apartments to try and get in." He sighed and swallowed some more tea. "People try that sometimes and I didn't want him to get hurt. I had no idea that he was the one who started the fire." He shook his head at the senseless loss of those people's apartments. "As soon as I rounded the back corner of the building he punched me." He gently touched his right eye and gave another sigh. "I don't remember much else except the need to fight and breathe." The dark skinned officer wrote everything down in his note book and looked at the young man in the bed. The bruising was still evident and fading to a yellow but his eyes still had their demonic like appearance and the seasoned officer had a hard time looking at them. "It's okay, Vince, I can't even look at them too long in the mirror." He answered the unasked question. "They're red because of broken blood vessels cause by the choking, it was compounded by traumatic intubation. My throat was almost swollen shut, Roy was lucky he got the tube in, otherwise-" He gave a shudder at the thought that today would've probably been his funeral if Chet didn't save him.

"Good thing Chet happened upon you then?" The young man gave a nod and looked down at his lap. "Have you talked to him yet?" John shook his head in the negative.

"I kinda want to know but sometimes I don't, I almost died and he was the one who saved me." He trailed off as the door opened and the man in questioned entered with a paper bag that smelled of burgers and fries and held what he hoped was milkshakes. The stocky man stopped short when he saw the officer and went to turn around. "Stay, Chet."

"Yeah, I was just about to leave _and_ I think Johnny wants to talk." The young man shot a look of betrayal at the officer as the food bearing man gave one of confusion. Chet shrugged it off and began to set up the meal between them.

"Chocolate milkshake?" He gave a smile as John nodded eagerly. They ate in companionable silence for a few minutes. "So, um, what did you want to talk about?" The other man swallowed his bite of food and took a deep breath.

"I wanted to say thank you for you know." He motioned at himself with his hand. "Saving me and all that." Chet nodded and ate a fry as John searched his mind for what to say next. "Can you tell me?" The lineman knew that this question was coming but that didn't mean he had to like it, he sighed loudly.

"Well I saw you run around the back, I didn't see the other guy but I got this feeling, you know?" He quirked his mouth. "I followed you and that bastard had you pressed up against the exterior wall of the building and you were purple." He looked pained. "I don't remember hitting him but I do know I would've kept hitting him if you didn't gasp. You were purple, the only time I've seen someone who was that color they were gone and I thought..." He abruptly put his food down, stood and walked over to the window. Johnny watched the man's hunched shoulders. "I didn't know," His voice cracked a bit. "I didn't know what _we_ would've done without you." The man made quick swipe as his face and cleared his throat before he turned around. The paramedic didn't notice it till now that Chet was the only person who would look him directly in the eye and not break contact. "You were gasping and then you just quit breathing. Your eyes were still open but staring at nothing." He shuddered violently. "The guys finally came to help. I've never seen Roy like that, he took over mouth to mouth as Mike ran for the resuscitator. He started to cry, Johnny, and I ** _never_** want to see that again."

"I'll try my best Chester B." The other man nodded and sat back down and continued to eat his now cold hamburger when a realization struck. "Wait did you say, _take over mouth to mouth?_ Then who?" His dinner mate smiled broadly.

"Don't worry the mustache burn cleared up nicely." Johnny threw a fry at him as he continued to laugh and the subject turned to something better and curvier, the new nurse in pediatrics.

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

 _I am going to be late on my first day back and get latrine duty!_ "Come on, come on, come ON!" He shouted as if it would make the traffic go faster. He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel as the cars began to move. " _Finally_!" He hit the gas and quickly sped into the driveway of Station 51, parked next to Roy's Porsche and hightailed it to the locker room. He nearly ripped the locker door off it's hinges only to be pelted with water. "CHET!"

"Welcome back Johnny, the phantom missed you." The station filled with laughter as John chased said phantom around the station in an attempt to give him a very cold and wet hug to thank him for his welcome back.

 **peripheral paraesthesia- tingling of fingers or toes**

 **ar-artifical respiration**

 **racemic epi- epinephrine in a breathing treatment, helps with swelling of throats**


End file.
